Author: treasureshieldsredmond

“Labor Pains” and the #StrikeForBlackLives

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When Africans were enslaved, one popular narrative used to justify their enslavement, was that they were “lazy.” “If we don’t enslave them they won’t work” was one of the fears expressed pre-emancipation. In fact, black men found without a job could be remanded to forced labor post-slaver...

How to Grieve and Dream at the Same Time

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This week’s vlog follows me through a day of workshop with the inimitable Bhanu Kapil.  Bhanu Kapil is a conceptual poet who recently worked for 15 years at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Sponsored by the Pulitzer Arts Center, this day long experience for metro area poets was na...

Why Don’t We Crave to See the Families of the Murdered Policemen in Dallas Forgive Micah Johnson?

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As the country continues to grapple with the racialized gun violence of the past weeks, several issues of comparison can be explored and discussed.   This is a thought experiment. I have taken an article titled, “Families of Charleston Shooting Victims: “We Forgive You” written by Inae Oh ...

#StrikeForBlackLives: A Nationwide Job Walk-Off By Black Labor

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  “Hamilton” isn’t the first play written by a writer of color that casts black and brown Americans in the roles of white Americans. 50 years earlier, Douglas Turner Ward wrote “A Day of Absence.” The play, with a role made famous by Ossie Davis, features a black cast playing white people in whit...

From the South Bronx to Southeast Europe

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Today was the final day of the international debate education association (IDEA) program in Macedonia. The two tracks– visual art (graffiti)/comics and hip-hop/poetry – were responsible for presenting their final projects. Prior to DJ Goce’s arrival, I had taken the students through a series of...

Good Beats and Good Eats

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Today we went “crate digging.”  The students in me and Dj Goce’s group all piled into taxis and went to the town center. There was an open air market where used books and used vinyl was being sold. This process has been really pleasurable and improvisational. The students then went on pick sampl...

Your Blues is Like Mine

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I have been collaborating with a Macedonian hiphop Dj and producer named Goce (pronounced GO SEE AH). He began to talk about why hip hop was resonant with him and Macedonian people. He sees hip hop as a dissident art, as he came into consciousness of it in 1989 when socially conscious groups like...

The Global Reach of Blackness

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Today I presented about Fannie Lou Hamer. This is a presentation I’ve done many times now, but because of the audience it was quite different. Because the audience was European and specifically people from the Balkan Peninsula, I stopped much more frequently to explain terms. I spent time on “sha...